Procrastinated Salvation Due to a Fallen Gospel

Answering a post on Reddit

Prayer for an end to procrastination

Hi all, lately I've been learning about what it means to actually be a Christian. It's not just a feeling, but rather a love relationship with God. Recently I've been struggling with 3 major things and I was wondering if you would be willing to pray that God helps me overcome them (preferably quickly too):

1. Procrastination (this is probably my biggest one, because I fear that I take steps back when trying to take steps towards God because I end up feeling like I'm willing to do what God wants, but after I do this, this, and this. The thing I assume that God wants me to do is call upon His name to be saved, but I sometimes can tell that I hold out on calling His name due to the procrastination and the genuineness of my heart [4]).
2. Lust (I'm having trouble realizing that my lust has had destructive effects on me and need help realizing this in a way that will result in my salvation).
3. Going "in and out of reality" (basically zoning out or going into a sort of autopilot mode. It's like listening and watching a conversation and enjoying watching more than being a part of it).
4. The genuineness of my heart (I struggle with genuinely praying, wanting God's help, and wanting Him at times, and how this relates to the procrastination of potentially holding out on Him when it comes to calling upon His name. Sometimes I think that I hear about a problem and then assume I have it or let myself slip into that problem, so that's another thing I would appreciate prayers for: running from problems that God doesnt want me in, not to them. Thank you all so much, happy new year and merry late Christmas :). God bless you ❤

Answer

I struggle with many of the same things and do not count myself worthy to preach. And yet, we are responsible to share what we have been blessed with, so I'll offer what I have learned. It will revolutionize the way you look at the problems for which you've requested prayer.

All religions except one have, as their ultimate goal for individuals, achievement through personal merit of some form of "salvation." Many mistaken variants of Christianity, veering onto that same path, have become counterfeit "Christian" churches, denominations, or movements.

To debunk that concept, the Law given to ancient Israel through Moses proved that nobody could achieve that level of righteousness. The Mosaic Law was one Law with many points. It had several layers.

The Law is like fractals. Every time you look closer, you see more details. Each layer adds details about how to fulfill the previous layer:

1. Love God
2. Love God's creation; specifically, fellow humans
3. The Ten Commandments
4. Another 600 commandments; some being ceremonial or civil and only for ancient Israel, but many being moral.

Here's one example:

1. Love God.
2. Love God by loving your fellow humans.
3. Do not commit adultery or covet (desiring what's not yours).
4. Do not lust after someone other than your spouse because lust is adultery of the mind and covetousness. God is Spirit, so what we "do" in our spirits is just as real to Him as what we do in the material world.

Although the Law served to maintain peace between neighbors and between us and God, it served two main purpose:

• Many ceremonial elements conveyed spiritual or prophetic truths. For example, the sacrifices symbolized how Christ would bear our sins on the cross.
  
  
• The strictness of the Law showed us that we could not self-righteously justify ourselves. "Now we know that whatever the Law says, it speaks to those who are under the Law [specifically, ancient Israel; generally, self-righteous people], so that every mouth may be closed and all the world may become accountable to God; because by the works of the Law no flesh will be justified in His sight; for through the Law comes the knowledge of sin." (Romans 3:19-20).

Both purposes drove a third: Instead of relying on self-righteousness, we must trust entirely the undeserved favor of God. "Now to the one who works [people who try to achieve salvation through self-righteousness], his wage [salvation] is not credited as a favor, but as what is due. But to the one who does not work, but believes in Him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is credited as righteousness" (Romans 4:4-5). So if you think you will get salvation by controlling your lust, you will never achieve it. But when you grasp how futile your efforts are and instead trust God 100%, He gives you the gift!

In other words, if you insult the Giver by trying to deserve the gift, you get neither the Giver nor the gift. But if you receive the gift as a free gift, you receive both. "For by grace you [people who have already found salvation] have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; not as a result of works, so that no one may boast" (Ephesians 2:8-9).

This does not mean you can maintain sinful habits. The next verse says, "we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand so that we would walk in them" (Ephesians 2:10). It makes no sense that a person would repent from sins and then embrace them.

As part of salvation, God becomes no longer your Judge, but rather, becomes a Father who cares about your maturity. Therefore, like any good human father, He chastises His children. In some cases, He even will call His children home to heaven prematurely, if they are stubborn enough about destructive sins. (See the first twelve verses of Hebrews 12. https://biblehub.com/nasb/hebrews/12.htm)

(Hint: Don't listen to people who promise prosperity or "your best life now." Once God starts training you, life can seem a lot harder; and if you don't receive such correction, you need to re-examine whether your faith was genuine.)

Receiving the gift is like changing directions. It means turning away from sins and from self-righteousness and turning to faith in God. You already feel the weight of your sins, so I don't need to tell you to repent. When you receive the gift as a free gift, God gives you a spiritual rebirth and sends His Holy Spirit to help you get the victory over your sins that you could not achieve on your own.

Victory over sins is a result of salvation, not a cause of it. If you wait to make yourself worthy, you will wait forever. The world's religions say you must achieve that victory in order to receive salvation. They make the result into a cause. This is one of the heresies that the Bible talks about in the letter to the Galatians. 

Pop culture has misdefined the term "fallen from grace." The term does not mean losing God's favor. It means that a false gospel is followed that teaches people to do things to earn salvation (Galatians 5:4 https://biblehub.com/nasb_/galatians/5.htm). 

2,000 years ago, new Christians from the Jewish culture said you had to be circumcised or eat only kosher foods. Today, people say you have to avoid certain sins or persevere by your own strength, or else you lose salvation. Their message is "fallen from grace" into self-righteousness.

When you understand that salvation is a gift, you will no longer have any reason to procrastinate about receiving it. 

Copyright 2020, Richard Wheeler. Permission granted for non-remunerated use, providing that credit is given where credit is due.

Praying for Wealth

From a question on Quora 

Is there a specific mantra or prayer for financial prosperity and wealth?

I answer from a Christian perspective. If you are considering mantras, my answer is probably irrelevant. Hopefully, it will help other, future readers. I had three points to make in answer to the question.

Jack Richards’ answer made my first point. Christians should concern themselves with what good they can do for others and what sort of persons they are, not with how to be come healthy and wealthy. God chooses to make some wealthy so they can help others, but His heart goes out to the lowly and He rewards those who love serving others.

The standard for what Christians should believe is their Bible. There is a type of Christianity called the Prosperity Gospel that deviates from biblical teachings. It emphasizes health and prosperity instead of emphasizing growth in holiness, service to God and others, and spreading the good news that God redeems people at His own expense if they will only receive it.

The prosperity gospel works for its leaders — at the expense of gullible people who love being flattered and whose minds are on materialism. Its mass manipulation and prestidigitation appeal to people who lack knowledge of such matters. It also appeals to people with shallow faith, who need extraordinary proofs before they can trust God for deeper relationships.

Prosperity gospel preachers often teach people to say specific words, such as commanding wealth to come to them. This is not only unbiblical, it is antibiblical. It is so American — and so human. It is a wrong mindset, as described in Marcus Anderson’s answer.

Marcus made my second point by giving an example of a prayer from the Bible about wealth, made with a right mindset. The prayer asks for enough prosperity to meet needs. We need enough wealth to buy food, clothing, shelter, education, transportation. We need enough left over to help others. So asking for income, or, better, ways to earn income, is right.

However, prosperity is a trap for most people. It tempts us to think we are the source of prosperity and forget to thank God for giving us the ability to earn. We become self-sufficient instead of depending on God. Gaining and protecting wealth tempts us into moral compromise and even into treating others unjustly. And every week, we read about how wealth gave some celebrity the means to indulge in self-destructive vices. Whatever we give a higher priority to than we give to God becomes an idol.

My third point is that Christianity is not a religion of magic. Words have power to inform, convince, and motivate people; but they have no power over physical things. Words can deceive or show disrespect. In that sense, they have power to cause a negative reaction. This is especially true when treating labels for God as worthless or usurping His titles. Fortunately, we can also use words in prayer to convince God to do things. But in prayer, there are conditions; primarily:

• God is Spirit, so the thoughts and intents of our spirits are as real to Him as our actions are. Our words are powerless with God if our intents do not correspond.
• God has plans of His own for running the universe. Our prayers must be moral and must fit with God’s plans.
• God loves His family and provides for them. He sometimes demonstrates His presence for the sake of those not yet in His family. But He has no obligation to creatures who owe all their obligation to Him. 

Christianity is not like magic or like other religions in which words have power of their own. Mantras and pre-written “prayers” do not impress God. Jesus of Nazareth said, “When you pray, do not babble on like pagans, for they think that by their many words they will be heard” (Matthew 6:7). The word in the ancient Greek manuscripts was βαττολογέω (battalogeó), which meant to stammer, utter nonsensical repetitions, be long-winded, or use empty, formalistic words. It describes practices from those requiring prayer beads (e.g., Catholic, Buddhist, shamanic), Pentecostal / Charismatic tongues-speaking, formulaic prayers heard in liturgical churches, and bloviating prayers anywhere else.

Christianity is a relationship, and a prayer is one side of a conversation within that relationship. Prayer is simply reasoned asking in humility and dependence. If your heart drives you to repeat yourself, it is not wrong. It is even commendable to think deeply about your request and present reasons as part of your request. The power, there, is in examining your own intentions and opening up your heart to God.

But manipulative repetition is disrespectful, and God will not respect it. Many Christians fall into using pre-written prayers. That is an acceptable method for those who cannot stay focused or who find prayers that express their hearts. They must take care, however, that such prayers do not become shallow formulas, lazy ways to avoid thinking deeply, or evasive ways to avoid opening up their hearts before God.

Copyrighte 2020, Richard Wheeler. Permission granted for non-remunerated use; and I trust you to give credit where credit is due. 

When Prophecy and Knowledge Are Idled

From a question on Quora:

What does 1 Corinthians 13:9-12 mean?

You won’t catch the meaning if you leave out 13:8 and 14:20–22.

The Corinthians church abused a spiritual gift of speaking in human, foreign languages (“tongues”) that a person had never learned.

The writer, the apostle Paul, included several relevant messages in chapters 12–13. One point was that believers should always practice faith, hope, and love, but revelatory gifts such as prophecy, tongues, and knowledge would become redundant. The Holy Spirit distributed gifts for specific purposes; so when a gift’s purpose was fulfilled, the Holy Spirit would stop distributing it.

Verse 8 uses different verbs to separate the causes of tongues’ ceasing from what caused prophecy and knowledge to cease.

• Love never fails; but if there are [spiritual] gifts of prophecy, they will be done away; if there are [spiritual gifts of] tongues, they will cease; if there is [a spiritual gift of] knowledge, it will be done away.

Prophecy and knowledge would be idled (passive form of καταργέω (katargeó) -- to render inoperative, abolish) whereas tongues would stop themselves (middle voice (something acting upon itself) form of παύω (pauó) -- to make to cease, hinder). If you miss this, then you miss how the remainder of chapter 13 and chapter 14 are organized.

Verses 9–12 deal with what would end the spiritual gifts of prophecy and knowledge. The reason for the spiritual gift of tongues ending is described in 14:20–22.

Verses 9–10, 11, and 12 explain, in three different ways, that gifts of prophecy and knowledge would become become redundant.

• Verses 9–10 describes speaking gifts as partial. For we know in part and we prophesy in part; but when the perfect comes, the partial will be done away. Speaking gifts give you a little revelation here and a little there. You never get the whole thing. When the whole verbal revelation comes in a recorded, written form, then you don’t need the partial revelations anymore.
• Verse 11 describes things that are needed by the immature. When maturity comes, then we put away the things of childhood. When I was a child, I used to speak like a child, think like a child, reason like a child; when I became a man, I did away with childish things. The infant church needed prophecy and knowledge. All they had was the Old Testament. But a degree of maturity would come when revelatory gifts would no longer be needed.
• Verse 12 describes seeing the full knowledge that comes from seeing directly as being superior to the partial knowledge that comes from looking in a first century mirror. For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face; now I know in part, but then I will know fully just as I also have been fully known. Now we see but a dim reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known. In New Testament lingo, the mirror is verbal revelation from God.* Piecemeal revelation through prophecy and knowledge gives us but occasional glimpses of ourselves, whereas the completed scriptures made full knowledge available and at all times.
• * James 1:23–24, For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man who looks at his natural face in a mirror; for once he has looked at himself and gone away, he has immediately forgotten what kind of person he was.

The perfect, complete, sufficient verbal revelation came as the New Testament scriptures were completed. The church passed from infancy to adulthood. Full knowledge of God’s words would replace going to the prophet to get verbal revelation bit-by-bit. As the scriptures reached completion, the spiritual gifts that delivered the same subjects would become redundant. The gifts of knowledge and prophecy would be idled by the completion of the New Testament.

The cause of tongues ceasing is a tangent, so I’ll be brief. Chapter 14 explicitly says “tongues are for” a purpose. Verses 20–22 refer to an Old Testament prophecy: Tongues was a sign to unbelieving Jews. The sign meant that God would soon punish the Jews for rejecting their Messiah. Paul wrote 1 Corinthians in 53 AD. In 66 AD, Israel rebelled against Rome. Rome swept over Israel and destroyed Jerusalem and the Temple in 70 AD. Rome again warred against the Jewish remnant in 132–136. So as you read verses 20–22 in light of the prophecy’s significance, you find that tongues were for a particular audience:

• Not believers (14:22). 14:4 says, The one who speaks in a tongue edifies himself, but the one who prophesies edifies the church. Anybody who thinks speaking in tongues to edify yourself is a good thing has completely missed the point. Chapter 12 says the gifts are to edify the church, and no gift is given to everybody. Chapter 13 says the gifts are for loving others, and love does not seek its own (13:5). Chapter 14 says to seek better gifts and keep things orderly. Even 14:4 contrasts (“but”) tongues and prophecy in a way that puts tongues in a negative light.
• Unbelievers; more specifically…
• Unbelieving Jews educated in Old Testament prophecy
• Unbelieving Jews that the prophecy of Jerusalem’s destruction might apply to — in other words, first century Jews.

When Rome fulfilled the prophecy for which tongues was a sign, tongues became redundant. Similarly, as the scriptures were completed and circulated, the gifts of prophecy and knowledge became redundant. Logically, the Spirit would no longer distribute redundant spiritual gifts.

All Bible references are from the New American Standard Bible.

Copyright 2020, Richard Wheeler. Permission granted for non-remunerated use. Remember to give credit where credit is due.

Define Deliverance

What is deliverance according to the Bible?

Deliverance means protection or rescue from danger. The more interesting questions are:

• From what things are people delivered?
• Who delivers?
• Who is delivered?
• How does (whom?) deliver?

When you consider all the possible answers to those questions, you can see that deliverance can have a great number of meanings.

Here are some examples from the Bible. Note: A word in the original Hebrew or Greek manuscripts can have more than one translation or interpretation in English, so different Bible translations may use other words.

• No king is saved by his vast army; no warrior is delivered by his great strength. A horse is a vain hope for deliverance; even its great strength cannot save. Psalm 33:16–17.
  
  The word deliverance in this passage has a wide meaning. It could be translated deliverance, help, salvation, or victory. The passage emphasizes reliance on God instead of on physical means. It continues:
  
  Behold, the eye of the LORD is on those who fear Him,
  On those who hope for His lovingkindness,
  To deliver their soul from death
  And to keep them alive in famine.
  Our soul waits for the LORD;
  He is our help and our shield.
• You are my hiding place; You preserve me from trouble; You surround me with songs of deliverance. Psalm 32:7.
  
  God protected the prophet, King David, from many attempts on his life both before and after he became king of Israel. God usually did this by providing a way of escape for David.
• For if you remain silent at this time, relief and deliverance for the Jews will arise from another place, but you and your father’s house will perish. And who knows but that you have come to the kingdom for such a time as this? Esther 4:14
  
  Israel had been conquered by Babylon. A politician had tricked the king into killing them. God was using Esther’s cousin/adopted father to talk her into appealing to the king in order to rescue their people from the plot.
• But on Mount Zion there will be deliverance, and it will be holy, and the house of Jacob will reclaim their possession. Obadiah 1:17
  
  This was part of a prophecy that had a very broad meaning. It predicted that God would provide a means of rescue and protection from the destruction of the wicked on Judgment Day. It implies physical protection of both faithful descendants of Abraham and faithful non-Jews, as well as redemption of faithful people from damnation.

In the New Testament, the word deliverance is replaced by more specific words such as salvation and redemption. The word deliver is used, but usually in a negative sense wherein one person turns a second person over to an authority for punishment. That includes (a) betrayers or low-level authorities turning a believer over to authorities for persecution and (b) a spiritual leader turning a badly sinning Christian over to the devil for punishment. The second sense happened when false preachers blasphemed and when a Christian took his father’s wife as his own.

Some churches use the term deliverance to means that God rescues someone from an addiction, disease, or demon, possibly using healing of the body or the emotions. Many of those churches cross the line into fanatical. The deliverance is almost always psychological, not miraculous. However, it would be just as wrong to say that God never does such deliverance.

In other churches, deliverance may mean that God rescues someone from the penalty of sin. This is normally called salvation. Near-synonyms that emphasize how it happens include redemption and the new birth (born again). Spiritual deliverance is far more important than types that only benefit us in our short, earthly lives. As Jesus said, “What does it profit a man if he gain the whole world and lose his own soul?” God does this by by granting an awareness of one’s condemnation and then granting trust in His promise to apply the price that He paid through Christ’s sacrifice on the cross, with the physical resurrection of Christ being the proof that God does what He promises.

I first posted this on Quora at https://www.quora.com/unanswered/What-is-deliverance-according-to-the-Bible. I trust anyone who copies it to give credit where credit is due.

The Looking Glass Is God's Verbal Revelation

Response concerning the looking glass in 1 Corinthians 13:12 

(Author's name withheld to prevent embarrassment)

1 Corinthians 13:12

For now we see through a glass, darkly; but then face to face: now I know in part; but then shall I know even as also I am known.

Barnes said in his commentary that Paul here may have referred to the imperfect and discolored glass which was then in extensive use in his era, for we have no reason to suppose that it was then as transparent as that which is now made. It was, doubtless, an imperfect and obscure medium, and, therefore, well adapted to illustrate the nature of our knowledge here compared with what it will be in heaven.

But then - In the fuller revelations in heaven.

Face to face - As when one looks upon an object openly, and not through an obscure and dark medium. It here means, therefore, "clearly, without obscurity." 

That would be a great illustration, but in this case, Albert Barne’s work is outdated. Mr. Barnes died 31 years before Agnes Ozman spoke in tongues and 37 years before the Azusa Street scandal began. Wesleyan teachings had evolved into a Holiness movement, but Charismatism was not on his radar. That affected his interpretation because there was, in his time, no need to respond to various interpretations of the passage. Plus, Greek scholars have learned more about the language since then.

1. The glass in 1 Corinthians 13:12 was a looking-glass rather than a window. 2072. ἔσοπτρον (esoptron) -- a mirror (i.e. an object for looking into). A completely different word is used for transparent materials such as glass and crystals (e.g., in Revelation).
   
2. The same word is used in James 1:23–24. For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man who looks at his natural face in a mirror; for once he has looked at himself and gone away, he has immediately forgotten what kind of person he was. But one who looks intently at the perfect law, the law of liberty, and abides by it, not having become a forgetful hearer but an effectual doer, this man will be blessed in what he does.
   
3. The mirror is a metaphor for the verbal revelation which reveals our sins and our foolishness. Since 1 Corinthians was one of the first New Testament epistles or books written, the metaphorical mirror comprised the Old Testament, plus bit-by-bit revelation through the gifts of the Spirit (knowledge, prophecy, tongues).
   
4. 1 Corinthians 13:12 sits in the middle of three chapters focused primarily on verbal revelation, so interpreting the looking glass as the Word is consistent with that pattern.

This informs a correct interpretation of verses 9–10. For we know in part and we prophesy in part; but when the perfect comes, the partial will be done away. Paul has not taken a detour into eschatology; he’s writing about verbal revelation the whole time.

The infant and juvenile church had need of special gifts of revelation because all they had was the Old Testament and the addition of the 27 books of the New Testament over the 60 years after the resurrection. But as the complete collection of written revelation became available, it was time for the church to mature and put away the showy things. When the complete writings became available, the hypothetical “I” would “know” through access to the full written revelation, even as the earliest believers had access to revelation when “face to face” with an apostle.

Bonus tidbit: Gifts of prophecy and knowledge would be done away with (passive voice) by an external condition 2673. καταργέω (katargeó) -- to render inoperative, abolish, and tongues would simply cease themselves (middle voice) 3973. παύω (pauó) -- to make to cease, hinder. This is stated in the context of a paragraph about the written revelation, the mirror, the Word, reaching completion.


Usual disclaimer: If you use this material, please give credit where credit is due.

God Brings Samaritans Into the Church

Question from Quora: Can you explain Acts 8:12-17?

Few people catch the meaning of this passage, so this is a good question.

The theme sentence of of Acts is chapter 1, verse 8. Before departing Earth for heaven, Jesus told the disciples, you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be My witnesses both in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and even to the remotest part of the earth. 

The events in Acts 8 form one of the high points of the outline.  If you understand the outline, you understand the significance of 8:12-17.  That outline unfolds as follows:

Jerusalem

In chapter 2, the Holy Spirit makes His grand entrance. The Holy Spirit descends on the disciples, causing the believers to speak in languages they had no way of knowing, along with other signs. This is followed by Peter preaching the gospel and many joining the disciples.

The language phenomenon had prophetic significance. In 1 Corinthians 14, Paul cites Old Testament prophecies to explain the primary purpose of miraculously speaking in foreign languages. The spectacular event that day was a warning to the Jewish nation that they had come under God’s judgment for rejecting their Messiah. As prophesied by Daniel and other prophets, Judea was destroyed by waves of Roman armies in 67 to 70 AD.

The Grand Entrance of the Holy Spirit marked a revolutionary change. Previously, He had come upon just a few believers for specific purposes such as guiding a king, empowering a warrior, or delivering revelation through a prophet. Now He had come upon all believers, not just for a narrow ministry, but to abide. What had previously been a temporary or conditional gift now became a permanent, sealing gift. Whereas only a chosen few had received ministries from God, now all received ministries and were empowered with “spiritual gifts.”

Judea

Chapter 8 briefly describes how the believers were scattered throughout Judea by persecution. Jerusalem represented the initiation of the gospel among the Jews, and Judea represents spreading of the gospel among the Jews.

Samaria (chapter 8)

The Samaritans had a mixed heritage, having descended from a mixture of Israelite and local ancestors.  Some followed the God of Israel, but most followed the religions of their non-Israelite ancestors or of the occupying armies.

The Jews descended primarily from Judah, one of the few families of Israel that had not been scattered into the world by invaders.  They were very inwardly focused.  God had commissioned Israel as a nation of priests to the world, but they had failed to maintain their own religion, let alone spread it.  In their minds, they were God’s chosen, and that was that.  They considered their half brothers, the Samaritans, unclean, second-class, and enemies. So what was about to happen required a major shift of thinking. 

Up to that time, all of the Christians were Jews.  Some began to recognize what God was doing, but it took decades for others.  Phillip went among the Samaritans anyway and preached Christ to them.

• 12 But when they believed Philip preaching the good news about the kingdom of God and the name of Jesus Christ, they were being baptized, men and women alike.

(The story of Simon is a tangent, so I'll skip verse 13.)

Shockingly to the Jews, the Samaritans converted. But something was missing. There was no miraculous evidence that the Holy Spirit had come upon the Samaritans.

At this point, we need to reach farther back for context. In Matthew 16:19, Jesus tells Peter,

• I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven; and whatever you bind on earth shall have been bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall have been loosed in heaven.

Acts 8 is a an example of the fulfillment of Peter using those metaphorical keys. (It has nothing to do with creating a permanent office or making Peter into a “pope.”)

• Now when the apostles in Jerusalem heard that Samaria had received the word of God, they sent them Peter and John, who came down and prayed for them that they might receive the Holy Spirit.  For He had not yet fallen upon any of them; they had simply been baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus. (verses 14-16).

Here, Peter fulfills his commission. He and John pray for the Samaritans to receive the full blessings of salvation, just like the Jewish believers had in Jerusalem. So the gospel expands outside of the Jews, and the Samaritans are now included.

• 17 Then they began laying their hands on them, and they were receiving the Holy Spirit.

The passage does not state how Peter and John knew that the Samaritans had received the Holy Spirit, but it is safe to infer that something miraculous happened. The likely possibilities are that some began prophesying and speaking in foreign languages in a manner similar to what had happened in Jerusalem.

You may notice that I don’t call it speaking in tongues. According to Acts 2:5–11, it was not the unintelligible babbling that you hear today. People from foreign lands heard the speakers in their own native languages, and 15 specific languages were understood by unconverted bystanders.

The evidence showed several things: God had expanded the blessings of belief and ministry beyond the Jews.  Previously, the Holy Spirit had only come upon people of Israel.  The Jews thought they had a unique claim on their relationship with God. This destroyed that misconception.  Since the Holy Spirit came upon people for the purpose of ministry, this meant that not only belief, but also the priesthood, was being taken away. And again, the sign warned the Jews of the destruction to come.

Thus, Peter had fulfilled his role, bringing, so to speak, the Grand Entrance of the Holy Spirit to the Samaritans.

To the Ends of the World

In chapter 10, we see the gospel and the Holy Spirit expand to a Roman soldier, Cornelius, and his household. The Samaritans were half Israelite, but Romans were unclean occupiers from a distant land!  Even Peter needed special visions to prepare him for dealing with a Roman.

After Cornelius converted and spoke in foreign languages, Peter had some explaining to do back in Jerusalem before the council of apostles.  They were offended that Peter had even eaten with gentiles.  Once again, God had expanded the group called “God’s people,” and the Jewish Christians had to adjust how they saw themselves and the rest of the world.

The remainder of Acts mostly describes the continued expansion of the gospel to Asia Minor and Greece. We even see the church’s first heresy when Jewish believers demanded that gentile believers start living according to Jewish customs. Although Acts shifts to following Paul's evangelistic journeys, Peter had used his "keys" to reflect that God had unlocked the kingdom for the Jews, the Samaritans, and the rest of the world.

Note to Charismatic and Pentecostal brethren: Christ’s prophesy in Acts 1:8 was fulfilled. The opening of the gospel and the grand entrance of the Holy Spirit to expanding circles of people does not constitute a pattern that applies today, and the prophetic meaning of “tongues” (1 Corinthians 14:20-22 plus Deuteronomy 28:49, Isaiah 28:11,12, and Jeremiah 5:15, and their contexts) was fulfilled over 1900 years ago.

Note to Catholic apologists: Peter in Matthew 16:18 is a masculine noun, denoting a stone by itself, whereas rock is a feminine noun, denoting a formation in the ground.  The difference denotes a play on words in which Peter and the rock cannot be conflated or confused.  In addition, throughout the Old Testament, Rock is a name for God, in general (Psalm 18:2), and for Christ, specifically (1 Corinthians 10:4). Even Peter used the word that way (1 Peter 2:8). This rock could not, therefore, refer to Peter. It had to refer to Peter’s confession.  To call Peter the Rock on which Christ founded the church is to equate Peter with God, and that is blasphemous.

Copyright 2019, Richard Wheeler; permission to use excerpts is granted for personal, not-profit use.  Please give credit where credit is due.  

The Perfect Peace Promised in Isaiah 26:3

What is the background to, and meaning of, Isaiah 26:3?

I first published this commentary on Quara on 28 Janury 2019.

For my answer, I quote extensively from my answer to a similar Quora question about Isaiah 12:4. 

Quotes below are from the New American Standard translation.

Short Answer

3“The steadfast of mind You [God] will keep in perfect peace,
 Because he trusts in You.”

The verse promises complete security to people of a future age who will have placed their trust entirely in God and His works. Although the verse does not apply to this age, the principle behind it is universal. In this age, those who place their trust entirely in God and His works are promised emotional peace, but not the physical victories indicated by the context of Isaiah 26:3. To teach the promise of peace to people of our times, careful teachers will use other verses.

Background

During Isaiah’s time, Israel had been split in two. The northern segment, “Israel,” had been conquered, and its survivors had been carried off to other lands. The southern segment, “Judah,” remained but was overtaken with other religions and corruption. Followers of God not only received mistreatment from their own neighbors, but also saw the same thing that had happened to Israel threatening to happen to Judah.

Those who listened to the prophets knew that God’s punishment was coming if the kingdom did not return to God. At this time, prophets such as Isaiah not only foretold about the punishment, but also foretold that God would later restore their people to Judea. Such promises were accompanied by other details. Such details described a savior who would save not only their people, but all who would turn to Him.

So the prophesies not only warned of judgment, but also promised hope.

Since these prophesied events were future, they were like mountain tops lined up in the distance. The hearers could not tell them apart. That is one reason the Jews rejected Christ. They wanted the Second Coming to establish their national independence and dominance. They did not accept that the spiritual redemption and the political redemption could be two different events.

From our position between peaks, it’s easy to see the difference. One mountain top was the restoration of Israel as a nation that was a territory of Greece and then of Rome. The second mountain top was the incarnation of God the Son. The third was a Second Coming. During the incarnation, Messiah would provide redemption through faith in His suffering; whereas during the second coming, He would assert His authority, judge the wicked, and establish peace on earth.

Meaning

To appreciate Isaiah 26:3, we first have ask about which age the verse directly applies to. Let’s start by connecting it to the preceding verses.

1 In that day this song will be sung in the land of Judah:
“We have a strong city;
He [God] sets up walls and ramparts for security.
2“Open the gates, that the righteous nation may enter,
The one that remains faithful.
3“The steadfast of mind You [God] will keep in perfect peace,
Because he trusts in You.”

The “that day” in verse 1 refers to the age resulting from second coming of Christ. We could re-read chapters 10 through 25 to point out the evidence, but I’ll go back just to verse 8 of chapter 25 to illustrate one of the characteristics of “that day.”

8 He will swallow up death for all time,
And the Lord GOD will wipe tears away from all faces….

Compare verse 8 to 1 Corinthians 15:54

But when this perishable will have put on the imperishable, and this mortal will have put on immortality, then will come about the saying that is written, “DEATH IS SWALLOWED UP in victory.

Revelation 21:3-4
And I heard a loud voice from the throne, saying, “Behold, the tabernacle of God is among men, and He will dwell among them, and they shall be His people, and God Himself will be among them, and He will wipe away every tear from their eyes; and there will no longer be any death; there will no longer be any mourning, or crying, or pain; the first things have passed away.”

1 Corinthians 15:54 refers to the beginning of the age marked by Christ’s return, and Revelation 21 refers to the end of that age, which culminates in the reward of the justified, the judgment of the unconverted, and the commencement of a re-created heaven and earth. The direct interpretation of Isaiah 26:3, then, must recognize that it applies to age which is, to us, in the future. 

That does not mean that the principle stated in the verse cannot apply in our age. The promise of both emotional and physical perfect peace applies to that future age, but the promise of emotional perfect peace applies to all times. Verse 4 continues,

4“Trust in the LORD forever, For in GOD the LORD, we have an everlasting Rock.

Compare Psalm 62, written centuries before Isaiah’s day

6 He [God] only is my rock and my salvation,
My stronghold; I shall not be shaken.7 On God my salvation and my glory rest;
The rock of my strength, my refuge is in God.8 Trust in Him at all times, O people;
Pour out your heart before Him;
God is a refuge for us. 

and in Isaiah chapter 12, concerning the age following the incarnation

2“Behold, God is my salvation,
I will trust and not be afraid;
For the LORD GOD
is my strength and song,
And He has become my salvation.”

Trust in God and having emotional peace — the opposite of fear — is a universal promise throughout the scriptures. For example, in Ephesians 2:11–22, Paul writes of a peace between Jews and non-Jews, and between man and God, that Christ established. He established this peace by providing redemption from the condemnation that the Old Testament commandments make us aware of and joining Jews and non-Jews into a single body, the church. 

Conclusion

Do not believe the lie of many highly visible, false, evangelical leaders who teach that the promise is for peaceful circumstances today. Jesus said in John 16:33, These things I have spoken to you, so that in Me you may have peace. In the world you have tribulation, but take courage; I have overcome the world. In the close to his letter, 2 Thessalonians, Paul writes

16 Now may the Lord of peace Himself continually grant you peace in every circumstance. The Lord be with you all!

For this age, the perfect peace means emotional peace in every circumstance. The promise is conditional, it is for The steadfast of mind who trusts in You [God].  To teach the promise of peace to people of our times, careful teachers will use other verses.